Article excerpt

While fewer people are dying from cancer in St. Louis, the
chances of recovery can too often be predicted by a persons
neighborhood.

The cancer mortality disparities are included in a new report
from the St. Louis Regional Health Commission that highlights 14
health measures at the ZIP code level for the city and county from
2000 to 2010. The Post-Dispatch health section each week in December
will feature different aspects of the report, including upcoming
stories on womens and childrens issues and behavioral health.

Cancer rates, both for incidents and deaths, are declining in St.
Louis as well as the country. But there are stark racial differences
that concern public health experts, such as black men dying of
prostate cancer at more than two times the rate of white men. Black
men are more likely to die from prostate cancer than women are from
breast cancer.

Beyond the death rates are hints at geographic and economic
barriers to health care. Two-thirds of women from Ladue,
Chesterfield and Webster Groves who died of breast cancer in recent
years had lived past the age of 75. In lower income ZIP codes, fewer
than half of women who died of breast cancer lived that long. The
data also does not reflect the type of cancer, which can be more
aggressive in younger and African-American women. It doesnt account
for the percentage of women who died after a second or third
recurrence of the disease.

The reports authors avoid presenting theories on the causes of
the disparities or the possible solutions, but say the data raises
plenty of questions for further study.

Why are the higher hospitalization rates for lung disease
concentrated in a swath of land spreading northwest from downtown
St. Louis? The area surrounds I-70, which runs through dense
neighborhoods and points to an influence of air pollution or other
environmental factors. …